Skinner thrown out of the Commons - again

The leftwing Labour MP Dennis Skinner was today thrown out of the Commons for the second time in five months for suggesting the deputy speaker, Sir Alan Haselhurst, was displaying bias towards the Tories.

Mr Skinner's outburst came after the shadow commons leader, Theresa May, alleged that Tony Blair had "misled" the house yesterday about the performance of the NHS.

Her comment led the Commons leader, Geoff Hoon, to suggest that she withdrew the comment: "I am sure you did not intend to say that the prime minister had misled the house.

"I am certainly willing to allow you to correct the record if you wish to do so." Sir Alan then rose to tell MPs that he would have intervened if he thought an "entirely improper" remark had been made.

"I judged it in the context in which it was said. She had not suggested there had been a deliberate misleading. But the chair is always concerned that as far as possible moderate language should be used in this house. I hope that will be generally observed," he said.

The veteran Mr Skinner, widely known in Westminster by his nickname "the beast of Bolsover", then shouted from a sedentary position: "She was let off because she's a Tory."

As MPs shouted in disapproval, Sir Alan said: "That is a grossly offensive and misleading remark on the part of the honourable member and I would wish that you would withdraw it."

As Mr Skinner remained silent, Sir Alan continued: "If you are challenging the chair, the chair has certain powers which it would not hesitate to use. Are you prepared to apologise?"

After Mr Skinner repeated his suggestion that there were different rules for Tories, an implied criticism of Sir Alan, a Conservative MP before he assumed the non-party political role of deputy speaker, Sir Alan named him - the traditional way of ejecting an unruly MP.

But Mr Skinner immediately left the chamber - avoiding a formal motion to suspend him.

Sir Alan then remarked: "The honourable member has taken the easier way out." The combative Mr Skinner was thrown out of the Commons only last December after levelling a drugs slur at the shadow chancellor, George Osborne.

In a Treasury question session about unemployment before Christmas the 72-year-old MP became enraged about high unemployment under the Tories in the 1980s, shouting: "The only thing that was growing then were the lines of coke in front of boy George and the rest of the Tories."

That referred to tabloid allegations, which showed a young Mr Osborne in the company of a prostitute and what she claimed was a line of cocaine. After refusing to withdraw the remark he was told to leave the chamber.

He shouted "It's true!" as he left, adding: "That was in the News of the World and you know it."

The pugnacious former miner, the MP for Bolsover for 35 years, has fallen foul of such rules of parliamentary behaviour at regular intervals.

In 1992, the plain-speaking scourge of sensitive speakers - was ejected for calling the then agriculture minister, John Gummer, a "little squirt of a minister" and a "wart".

He was also removed for the day by former speaker Betty Boothroyd in 1995 for accusing ministers of engaging in a "crooked deal" to sell off the coal industry.

That was at least the ninth time he had been asked to leave since 1979. In 1981 he was also "named" - the next stage up in speakers' disciplinary weaponry - and banned from the chamber for five days.

It is likely he will be barred from the chamber this time for at least a day.

After his eviction Mr Skinner told the Press Association that a lot of MPs that he had spoken to were "mystified" by Sir Alan's decision not to ask Ms May to withdraw her comment about Tony Blair.